among them who commits a sin with his breast wide open to it—Allah’s refuge is sought—showing no concern at all. The person of goodness whom Allah has enabled to be righteous, on the other hand, is the one who hesitates about a matter, whose heart does not feel at ease with it, and to whom it keeps returning within his chest; that is the sin.

A person’s stance toward such a matter is to leave it, to abandon it for something that sets his soul at ease and places no constriction in his breast; this is scrupulous piety (waraʿ). For that reason the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “even if people give you verdicts and give you verdicts.” So even if a mufti rules that an act is permissible, yet your own heart is not tranquil and does not open up to it, then leave it, for doing so is part of goodness and righteousness.

The exception is when you know that what unsettles you is a sickness of obsessive whisperings, doubts, and misgivings about what Allah has declared lawful; in that case, pay no attention to it. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is addressing people whose hearts are sound and free of such illnesses. Indeed, righteousness is what brings peace to the soul, while sin is what lingers in the breast and what one would hate others to discover. Allah is the One who grants success.

5/592 – It is narrated from Abū Sarwah—pronounced with a kasrah or a fatḥah on the sīn—ʿUqbah ibn al-Ḥārith (may Allah be pleased with him) that he married the daughter of Abū Ihāb ibn ʿAzīz. A woman then came to him and said, “I nursed ʿUqbah and the woman he has married.” ʿUqbah replied, “I do not know that you nursed me, nor did you inform me.” He mounted and went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in Medina and asked him. The Messenger of Allah said, “How can you keep her when it has been said?” So ʿUqbah separated from her, and she later married another man. Narrated by